Friday preview: Greene King to report strong third quarter trading update

9th Feb 2017 13:00

(ShareCast News) - Pub operator Greene King is expected to report a robust third quarter trading update on Friday during a strong performance across the rest of the sector.Numis anticipates the company will report a small recovery in Christmas trading, in line with the sector, but believes the pressure on mainstream pub restaurants remains. "Overall, we remain cautious on earnings momentum at Greene King, although-11% relative underperformance over the last three months suggests the market may be starting to price this in," said Numis analyst Tim Barrett.The group's like-for-like sales have been "relatively disappointing" in recent quarters with managed growth of 1.3% in the 24 weeks to 16 October 2016, according to Numis. The broker said this implies flat sales for the last five weeks over that period.In November, Greene King reported revenue growth of 13.8% for the 24 weeks to 16 October last year while adjusted pre-tax profit increased 14.6% to £139m.However, the company warned that it faces a challenging consumer environment due to inflationary pressures following the Brexit vote. The industry has also had to contend with the higher salary costs due to the National Living Wage, along with an apprenticeship levy.Rooney Anand, chief executive, said: "Looking ahead, increasing levels of consumer uncertainty, further cost pressures and the changing dynamics of eating out, mean the consumer environment is likely to become more challenging."However, we are confident that the strength of our brands, pubs, people and cash generation leaves us well placed to deliver another year of progress, value creation and returns for our shareholders."Friday 10 February INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Bisichi Mining, QinetiQ Group QUARTERLY PAYMENT DATE British Land Company INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Consumer Price Index (GER) (07:00) Import and Export Price Indices (US) (13:30) EGMS GCP Infrastructure Investments Ltd AGMS GCP Infrastructure Investments Ltd, Keras Resources , Numis Corporation, Port Erin Biopharma Investments Ltd TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTS Electrocomponents UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Balance of Trade (09:30) Industrial Production (09:30) FINAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE Connect Group, Daily Mail and General Trust A (Non.V), Dunedin Smaller Companies Inv Trust, Game Digital, Grainger, Henderson European Focus Trust, Numis Corporation, Octopus VCT 3, Octopus VCT 4, Patisserie Holdings , Servoca, Tracsis